Jeff’s Posts

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It’s already April and getting cooler.  Leaves are already falling from the few deciduous trees we have in Toowoomba – not quite New England in the Fall!  The year started on the run and hasn’t really stopped.

I’ve found myself (more) involved in two local groups.  I have been in Toowoomba Landcare Group (http://toowoomba.ddrlandcare.org) for a number of years and am now doing my stint as Chair!  It changes the way you are involved when you have the extra responsibility – and have to face issues like getting funding needed to continue the work!  But it is great to work within your own community with a group of people who have the same aim – improving the environment of our community.

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This year has seen more international travel – for work and pleasure!  In the last blog, I reported on my last trip to Chile providing extension training – a great experience.  I have also had further opportunity to visit Hamilton in New Zealand with my DairyNZ monitoring and evaluation work – always a pleasure!

But travel has not always been about work.  In September/October, Robyn and I headed off to Canada to visit Vancouver and catch up with Ben (our IT and survey analysis guru), before heading off to New Brunswick to spend time with our grandchildren (and their parents of course!!!).  So between apple picking, admiring autumn leaves, reading and listening to stories – I managed to keep up on my Australian work when the others went to bed.  It was a good experience!

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I really didn’t expect to get back to Chile – or at least not so soon!  As you will see from an earlier blog, I travelled there to work with the dairy industry on the subject of “extension” in 2010.  I had thought it was a nice ‘one-off’ opportunity and enjoyed it on that basis.  Then I found myself back – this time running a more formal extension training course that I developed “ Camino a la adopcion – Extension de formacion”  – or “Pathway to Adoption – Extension training”.  Of course, I didn’t do the translation! – that was organised by the Consorcio Lechero who brought me over.  This organisation plays a coordinating role across the value chain within the dairy industry – and saw a need for improved extension approaches if Chile was to make the gains they wanted in the dairy industry.

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Well the Queensland and Victorian Floods have dominated the last month – and now a cyclone is heading towards my original home town – Ayr!  Quite a start to the year!  I feel for those affected directly and indirectly.  And those landholders who have battled drought and have now lost crops, pastures, stock and infrastructure to floods.

Robyn and I were in Fiji (again! – see my earlier blog on our first visit there) at the time of the Toowoomba Tsunami and what followed!  Then we watched endless replays on BBC which showed the terrifying surge of water through the streets we knew so well.

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Well just short trips since Chile.  A couple of days in Port Lincoln where I have been doing some work with the Eyre Peninsula NRM Board – looking at planning and evaluation for the major natural resource management programs.

Port Lincoln describes itself as…a thriving City where residents and visitors enjoy a clean, safe and unique location, enhanced by the surrounding natural environment…a major service centre to the Eyre Peninsula, with burgeoning aquaculture activity and services, which are provided to the vast region. It is the home of aquaculture.  It’s certainly a pleasant seaside location – great sunrises – over the bay.

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